Resolving Installation Issues

This section includes information on resolving issues that you may encounter when installing Tiki. Be sure to review the information in the What if it doesn't work section for additional information.

Tiki cannot find a database connection.

The actual error message may be similar to

Access denied for user 'username'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

Tiki was unable to log into the database using the supplied username, password, and database name. Remember:

• This is the database username and password — not your Tiki username and password.
• This username must have full access to the database.
• For shared hosts, you may have to include your hosthame to both the username and database name.

See Creating the Database and Configuring the Database Connection for details.

Tiki reports that it cannot write to specific directories.

The actual error message may be similar to

unable to access yourdomain/yourinstallationdiretory/.... warning/error fwrite() argument is not a valid resource.

Tiki requires full write access to specific directories on the web host. Review the Set Directory Permissions section and verify that you have assigned the 7-7-7 (or 7-7-5) permission to all of the required directories.

Tiki reports a SAFEMODE violation during installation.

The actual error message may be similar to

SAFE MODE Restriction in effect.

Your webhost is running PHP in safe mode. Refer to the Tiki documentation for details on using Tiki in safe mode.

Tiki reports an OPEN_BASEDIR restriction.

The actual error message may be similar to

Warning: tempnam() [function.tempnam]:
open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/tmp) is not within the allowed path(s):

Your webhost is running PHP in safe mode and has restricted your access to specific directories and folders. Refer to the Tiki documentation and this Tiki development page for details on resolving this issue.

The installer stops before completing the installation.

The actual error message may be similar to

The Tiki Installer cannot proceed:
The directory '.directory/' does not exist.

Verify that you successfully copied all files to your web host.

The installer is locked!

When you attempt to load tiki-install.php in your browser, Tiki displays the message:

Installer disabled. Remove 'db/lock' to enable the installer.

When you initially installed Tiki, you selected to Lock the Installer as recommended on the final installation screen. This disabled the install script. To re-enable the install script, use your host's file management software to remove the file lock from your Tiki's ../db/ directory.

You can now re-run the install script.

Tiki Installer reports a Security Precaution.

When you attempt to load tiki-install.php in your browser, Tiki displays the Security Alert page:

To protect your site, if you (or anyone else) attempts to run the Tiki installer on a site that has an existing Tiki database, Tiki displays the security precaution alert and requires you to login using your database's username and password.

Enter the database username and password that you used when creating the database.

Tiki reports a Database Version Problem.

When you open any Administration page, Tiki displays the following message:

This message may appear if you recently upgraded your Tiki files, but did not upgrade the database. Remember, the final step of any upgrade procedure is to complete the Tiki Installer and select the Upgrade option. See Updating your Database for details.

Tiki reports a System Driver Problem.

When installing Tiki 4.x with PHP 5.1.0 (or higher), Tiki may display the following message after completing the installer:

System error: could not find driver

This indicates that PDO driver for your database has not been enabled on your server. Refer to the Tiki Release Notes for more information.

Tiki reports a Database Encoding Issue

Starting with Tiki 5.x, the installer will check your database for proper encoding. The actual error message may be similar to:

Encoding Issue
Your database encoding is not in UTF-8.

By default, Tiki uses UTF-8 encoding. If your database uses different encoding, you must manually update the ../db/local.php file to match your specific encoding.

Starting with Tiki 5.1, Tiki can attempt to automatically fix your database and change it to the proper encoding.

PHP X.X Required

Different Tiki versions requires different PHP versions to run. The actual error message may be similar to:

PHP 7.1 is required
Please contact your system administrator ( if you are not the one ;) ). Your version: X.X.XX

Be sure to review the Tiki installation requirements for details regarding the minimum requirements.